Back in my Soviet days I visited Southeren republicks of then Union. It is really hot there in the summer. But, they have this special places, like a tea house, and people just seat and drink really hot tea. To me it was amasing, but then when I started doing it, I realised that drinking hot tea helps to curb yout thirtht (sp?) fester.

Now, as far as cooking advise goes, i do not really have one, but there is one thing I learn back in my army days, stay far away from the comanding officers, stay as close as possible to the kitchen!

When we married, we came to an agreement: S/he who cooks does not do dishes. We haven't had a dishwasher for years, and since hubby has quit cooking (he used to, what happened?), I wash dishes when his arthritis kicks up.

I wish I was better at mise en place. I'm always good when it comes to asian cooking -- stir frying goes so fast you'd better have everything there. But with other cooking I'm always yelling (at myself) "where the heck is ...." an ingredient that I forgot to take out in advance.

But my big hint is to enjoy yourself and forgive yourself. I have a freind who has to try any dish she serves to company several times before so that it will be just perfect. I serve new dishes to dinner parties often. Unlike many who wrote in, I shop weekly, and on Thursday (shopping day is Friday), dinner is going to be whatever perishables are around. I've gotten pretty creative. Hubby claims I've never failed. Not quite true, but one time I had to call in for a pizza when that little toss of the peel didn't work. One of my guests scraped the pizza off the back of the oven and ate it and said it was great. So even your failures should be taken with a grain of salt and a lot of laughter.

Another hint is you can't please everyone every time, and to a point you shouldn't try. Serious diseases aside.

1) To turn out shrimp that is tender, succulent, and juicy, brine it in a solution of 16 parts water and 1 part each of sugar and table salt. Make enough to cover the amount of shrimp you are cooking, and let them soak in it at room temperature for about a half an hour. Remove them, dry them, and cook as usual, and you will be amazed at the difference. Just be sure not to overcook them; if you do they'll be chewy no matter what. And yes, you can use other types of salt, but in this case use an equivalent weight to a "part" of table salt, instead of using the same measuring cup for say pickling or kosher salt. Finer crystals dissolve more readily than coarse ones, but with the same measuring cup will make the brine saltier, as they pack more closely together in the cup.

2) Same thing for pork, except leave out the sugar and use twice as much water. The larger cuts like roasts need to brine in the fridge overnight, and smaller cuts likewise in the fridge, but only for three or four hours. This will turn out pork that is juicy and flavorful, instead of the dry, tasteless stuff we so often encounter. Depending on the dish, I often add freshly minced garlic, chopped onions, or chopped jalapenos to the brine as well.

3) Before cooking, clean your kitchen and empty the dishwasher. If you are cooking a large holiday meal, banish irrelevent appliances from your counter tops, like toasters, coffee grinders, stand mixers, and anything else you will not be using. This will help keep you from running out of all-important counter space. Who among us has never pulled a large, hot pan out of the oven, only to stand there helpessly and yell "I need somewhere to set the...!" This will also make cleaning your counters a breeze afterwards. Spilled gravy and meat juices will have nothing to run under, and once everything is in the dishwasher, you can just hose your counters down with a cleaning solution, and wipe them clean.

4) Rinse and re-use pans whenever possible, or rinse them and put them in the dishwasher if you don't need them anymore. You can always pull them back out and use them again, (the interior of your dishwasher is the cleanest place in your kitchen, as long as you rinse stuff off before putting it in there) and this will also keep your counters and sink from becoming cluttered.

5) Deglaze pans as soon as the food comes out, even if you are not making sauce or gravy, and there will be no reason to soak them. Both tips four and five will save you a lot of work in the long run, as it is much easier to deglaze or rinse now than to scrub and scrape later.

If possible don't do a big weekly shop (note: this does not apply to pantry staples and dry goods) in which you get all your fresh produce (including meat and seafood).

You don't know what your going to feel like 6 nights from now, so why buy all your produce forcing you to use it whether you want to or not (unless of course you have planned to do a certain dish on a certain night). Much better to cook according to your moods, and picking up what you feel like on the day helps this along.

Used to feel this way until I realized allowing my moods to judge my wants is not really practical. With everything going up in price mainly the gas I had not choice but to shop once week. When you live on budget I have to allow for cost of gas too. Also find that having product makes me do things I normally feel too much effort. One thing my health has improved since I eat more fresh things than other things that are easy to prepare. Many people ask how I fix eggplant? They have never even t asted it they say.

I read this interesting tip in an old German cookbook: Use old cardboard egg containers for assistance in lighting a grill/campfire by putting pieces of charcoal in the egg "slots." Never tried it, but it sounds promising.

Unfortunately, gas prices and the way U.S. cities are arranged precludes daily or even every few days shopping. The fact is, at least where I live, the "fresh" produce at the store tomorrow is highly likely to be the "fresh" produce that was there yesterday. I'd just as soon buy it and store it myself. My local farmers' market has exactly what my garden has, when I have it. So .... I shop weekly unless I specifically want one particular thing. I know when our local grocery store gets its produce (Thursdays), and I don't buy fresh produce from WalMart anyway. I guess what I'm getting at is that we all need to know our local stores before we make a blanket decision on how we buy.